The Weakness of Beatrice the Level Cap Holy Swordswoman Vol 2 Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Alternate World Wors.h.i.+ping White Succubus Part 1[edit]

“…Sigh.”

There was a soft feminine sigh.

Even a complete amateur could detect the difference in the extremely high quality incense hanging in the air. The building had been built by the skilled hands of the rare carpenters who specialized in shrines and truly had been designated living national treasures. The breath of history there was so strong that it was rumored to stand out too much among the fake sets of samurai movies and Taiga dramas. It was most likely the largest scale piece of j.a.panese architecture in existence.

That green paradise covered a large chunk of the priciest land in Tokyo’s Akasaka district.

It was the Us.h.i.+gas.h.i.+ra Shrine.

More specifically, this was the Dragon Palace Chamber.

Once the girl known in the other world as Filinion pa.s.sed through the Gate and Signed Out, her clothing changed to a bright red and white shrine maiden outfit. But unlike Beatrice, her appearance did not change much. Her long, fluffy, and blonde hair was held back in a hair tie that looked like a long white tube. Gla.s.ses adorned her face, but they had swirly c.o.ke-bottle lenses. Gla.s.ses technology had advanced well beyond that, but her complex mixture of near- and far-sightedness required this kind of unfas.h.i.+onable and special-ordered option.

Her hair and gla.s.ses did not match the shrine maiden outfit in the slightest, but hair color and sight were genetic and there was nothing she could do about it.

(And then there’s…this.)

She looked a little annoyed as her eyes dropped to her own chest.

It was even larger than in the other world. It was said kimonos and other j.a.panese clothing did not mix well with large b.r.e.a.s.t.s, but she felt like the shrine maiden outfit made them stand out even more.

However, her life was proof enough that no amount of cursing her birth would slow their growth.

There were times when one was entirely powerless. She had learned that all the way back in the spring of her 5th year in elementary school, so she knew that directing her anger at the unfairness of the world would accomplish nothing.

“I beseech thee, I beseech thee, oh G.o.d…”

Those words were meant as a religious ritual, but they had so permeated her being that they slipped out like someone humming as they cooked. And in a tatami-floored shrine larger than a governor’s mansion in a samurai movie, the blonde shrine maiden pulled out a smartphone.

She checked her email, SNS comments, and voicemail. She had so many unread messages piled up that she did not feel like checking through them. She had only been away for 2 or 3 days and it was already this bad. But she had to check them and she found a variety of things: entirely worthless direct messages, an alert about having your smartphone hijacked at suspicious wireless hotspots and then having your Experience Points manipulated by someone else, homework a.s.signments and invitations to hang out from her s.h.i.+nto college, arrangements for a meeting concerning a banquet for the Yokohama Summit, and a wrong number. That last one was quite rare in this day and age when everyone just used their phone’s address book. Sensing destiny in that rarity, she saved that one. And lastly…

A demand for an observation report on Holy Swordswoman Beatrice.

Her fingers briefly stopped.

She threw out that email while singing a nursery rhyme about a goat.

That kind of ruined her mood, so she decided to wait until later before unlocking new Magic with the Experience Poin
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ts she had earned. She rudely walked through the giant shrine with smartphone in hand and then spoke in a voice loud enough to fill the entire s.p.a.ce.

“Grandmother!? I’m back, grandmother!!”

“What’s that racket for? Why is the older daughter such a screw-up…?”

“I’m exhausted, grandmother. I’d love some sukiyaki.”

“Repeat our shrine’s name to yourself and try that again, you moron.”[1]

She heard a voice, but the old woman was nowhere to be seen. It was a lot like receiving an answer from someone in the attic, but she knew she would not find anyone if she checked there. This had already been “normal” by the time she was born and she had never actually seen the old woman.

But if she spoke, she would always receive an answer and she always found the bath ready or her favorite food prepared when she wanted to bathe or eat. She called this her grandmother, but it was not actually her grandmother. Her real grandmother would claim it was their shrine’s G.o.d, but always with a joking look on her face.

It was a strange relations.h.i.+p.

(Of course, it might just be someone speaking through a speaking tube or something.)

But that aside…

“It might be called the Us.h.i.+gas.h.i.+ra Shrine, but it’s not like we actually wors.h.i.+p a cow G.o.d, right? It refers to being given a cow’s head, so it’s about butchering them into beef to eat. We only took on this name as a symbol of the new culture that began in the Meiji era. We’re like Dejima for the Imperial Household Agency and all its more ancient traditions. We act as the antenna that gathers all the knowledge and techniques we can, and once it’s clear they don’t have to worry about them destroying the culture around it, they can gradually incorporate it into the traditions. Isn’t that what we do?”

And the most recent example of that was Magic.

That was one of the reasons she was so involved in the alternate world of Grandnir.

“So there’s nothing wrong with us eating beef. In fact, I think we should be eating as much beef as we can, grandmother. And so I want sukiyaki.”

“Honestly, it’s probably that way you make these silly arguments to justify your desires that you were hit by divine punishment.”

“Divine punishment?”

“I’m talking about those needlessly swollen b.r.e.a.s.t.s.”

The gla.s.ses shrine maiden with her fluffy blonde hair held back in a long tube shape quickly crossed her hands in front of her chest.

But despite that perfect pose of defense, they still stuck out around her hands, making it all the more erotic. And it was certainly out of place for a shrine maiden.

“My b.o.o.bs have nothing to do with this! Nothing at all!!”

“They cause so many problems when they’re too big, you know? Should this old lady tell you what path awaits you once you begin to age?”

“That’s h.e.l.l!!”

She tearfully protested but only received cackling laughter in response. And once she was done teasing the shrine maiden, the “voice from the attic” changed the subject.

“We aren’t some dogs of the PSIA. Those bureaucrats in business suits may be asking you to monitor that Holy Swordswoman, but that doesn’t matter. If it isn’t part of our primary job, just ignore it. …So aside from that, how were things in Grandnir?”

“Well.”

The fluffy blonde-haired shrine maiden in gla.s.ses was thankful that this was the normal way of things.

She would never admit it, but she was grateful for a guardian who could detect her refusal to betray her friend, support her in that, and take the blame for that softness inside her.

“It was a lot of fun. So much so that I found myself forgetting all about the real world.”

Part 2[edit]

Beatrice ran across a strange sight.

She was in the usual forest as she followed the path to Boo Boo’s leaf house.

Suddenly, she heard a sharp female voice from behind the trees.

“Pick up the pace!!”

She then heard rustling in the underbrush.

She frowned and looked over to find a group casually running a short distance away. They were all of different ages, s.e.xes, outfits, and Jobs. They slipped between trees and around obstacles like artificial wood panels while taking the shortest route to the woman yelling at them.

The woman had very white blonde hair tied in a braid and then tied in a large loop on her back that reached down to her waist. She wore what looked like Western mourning clothes with heavy boots added on, but that was not too unusual in this alternate world. Also, her chest beat Beatrice’s.

(Is she a Summoner? No, she’s using a bow, so maybe a Summon Hunter. Either way, that’s rare.)

“You should be able to shorten it further and you’re too inaccurate! What do you think you’re doing here!?”

They all had a large box on their back.

Whenever the woman in the center looked inside one, she would give an exasperated sigh.

As for what they contained…

(Wow, those are Bitesize Duck Eggs. What a waste. I bet Boo Boo would be looking pretty sad right now.)

The boxes were packed full of bird eggs the size of ping pong b.a.l.l.s, but if even 2 or 3 of them were broken, the woman would say the runner had failed.

“You aren’t allowed this kind of failure in an actual battle. And you, how many ribbons did you find tied on the branches on the way here? Tell me the number, the colors, and the locations.”

“Umm…uh…well…”

“Unacceptable. Redo it all from the beginning!! The terrain itself changes periodically in the actual Labyrinth. And you can’t spend days going out of your way to map it all. You need to constantly monitor the terrain as you move around so you can accurately record and share information on even the smallest changes! Measure distances in paces! You’ll be here until you can do all that. Now get going!!”

Beatrice started wondering if this was basic training for a Guild.

With the support of the Percentage-type Magic that formed their clothing, they could produce enough strength to slay a mid-level Chimaera or Griffon barehanded, but that was only placing a percentage modifier on their original body’s ability. If it was STRx200%, it would double their strength. It could sound cruel, but if your base value was low, equipment with a high percentage modifier would be wasted on you. For that reason, increasing one’s base strength could not be taken lightly.

That said…

(Can’t they just do that at a gym back in the original world?)

If they wanted to put a decent burden on their body to develop their muscles, the Percentage-type support actually got in the way. It was like trying to weightlift while wearing a powered suit. However, this may have been for the Guild’s convenience. If the members were scattered across different countries and continents around the world, they would only be able to gather here.

It was still a strange sight to Beatrice, but then her eyes met those of the woman in the center of the group.

She gave a fake-looking smile that was as bright as the sun in the sky and she bowed.

“I pray you have a wonderful day.”

And she offered a prayer.

The ring on her left hand’s ring finger sparkled like a gold tooth in a nouveau riche old man’s mouth.

“???”

Still confused, Beatrice tilted her head and continued on to Boo Boo’s house.

She was only left with the feeling that she had run across something weird.

As she walked through the forest with questions filling her head, she heard a rustling in the underbrush next to her.

Oh, no. Is it more of that group? she wondered, but it was not.

“What is it, Beatrice? Are you out looking for food too?”

“Boo Boo.”

She finally sighed and shook her head.

“I thought I would stop by your house, but…what are you doing, Boo Boo? What’s with the giant basket on your back?”

“I’m taking my vegetables to the vegetable stand.”

“?”

This sounded interesting, so she followed him to a small clearing in the forest. It was not as large as a field or a thicket. The s.p.a.ce was only about the perfect size for a single-person tent and it had probably formed because a humongous mushroom called a Table Shroom had sucked all of the nutrients from the soil. It was rumored that mushroom’s spores stimulated animals’ hunger, making them eat there and drop bits of food to be absorbed into the soil, but there was no real evidence of that.

Boo Boo lowered the basket from his back, pulled out some Nyandetta Fruit and Mola.s.ses Plant, and placed them on the mushroom which was about the size of a small dinner table.

“Anyone can take these vegetables.”

“So you’ve learned how to be a cultured man who does volunteer work?”

“I feel like you’re making fun of me. And what’s volunteer work?”

While he said that, he picked up the brick-like blocks of dried plants and beeswax that were already sitting on the giant mushroom umbrella. He then put them in his basket.

“With these, I’ll be fine even on windy days. The fire won’t go out.”

“Solid fuel? This feels more like an unmanned bartering station than volunteer work. But, Boo Boo, why not pile up some handy stones to make a stove? Even if you just surround the fire on three sides like this, it should be much less affected by the wind.”

“I don’t want to make any furniture too big or heavy to carry around with me. Then I’ll be reluctant to move. It’s best to have things I can carry with me if my forest home goes away.”

“…”

“Ow! Squeal! Beatrice, why are you punching my waist!?”

Meanwhile, Beatrice and Boo Boo turned away from the forest vegetable stand.

And after walking a short while, they heard some rustling behind them. The Holy Swordswoman turned around to find a few other men and women approaching the vegetable stand. They had flowing blonde hair and beautiful faces. They looked human enough, but they had pointed ears and their clothing had none of the identifying traits of Percentage-style Magic.

They were probably Elves or some other Nonhuman species.

“There are more vegetables here.”

“Oh, thank goodness.”

Beatrice smiled when she saw them celebrating.

But then…

“There’s a violent Iberian Orc wandering these woods. Hunting and gathering while making sure we don’t run into that monster isn’t easy, so this vegetable stand is a real blessing.”

She moved on reflex.

The Holy Swordswoman flared up and tried to turn back, but Boo Boo’s large hand rubbed her head.

“Leave them be,” he said.

“But you’re the one that left those vegetables!!”

“If they knew it was me, no one would come to get them. So we can’t tell them.”

“〰〰〰!!!!!!”

She did not like it, but there was nothing she could do to change it.

Boo Boo had a long and difficult road ahead of him if he was make friends like he wanted.

But even as she thought that, Beatrice did not realize just how rea.s.suring it was to him that he had at least one person who would think that for him.

Part 3[edit]

Beatrice noticed something when she arrived at Boo Boo’s leaf house.

“Hey, Boo Boo. Haven’t you gotten a lot more stuff lately?”

Beatrice had been exploring the Labyrinth with Boo Boo recently. When they defeated a Gimmick, they gained the gears that could be used as currency, but she doubted he was using those to shop. Sadly, Boo Boo’s appearance made it difficult for him to visit the inn town.

That suggested that the unmanned bartering spot they had visited must have had a wide selection.

“Almost all of these are things the Nun brought to the vegetable stand. I carelessly ran across her near the vegetable stand, but she didn’t run away when she saw me.”

Boo Boo pointed at the objects scattered around his leaf house.

“This is a metal pot. I can make more tasty foods with it. This is a wood float. I don’t have to worry when I fall in the water with it.”

As he explained what it all was, he started rubbing his fangs with something like a large tropical leaf.

“Boo Boo, what is that?”

“Nn, this is a Blade-Honing Leaf the Nun gave me. I use it to groom myself!”

Iberian Orcs may have liked long and large fangs. Even in the natural environment of the planet Beatrice had been born on, moose had apparently developed their horns more to show off than to attack.

“The Nun said it must be like a man’s ‘you-know-what’.”

“Bfhhhh!!!??”

Beatrice had nothing in her mouth, but she still had trouble breathing like she was choking. Boo Boo only looked confused. The Holy Swordswoman did not want him to ask any awkward questions, so she did her best to change the subject.

“Th-then, um, what is that thing that looks like a keychain?”

“Oh. That’s the Circle.”

“?”

The name was too straightforward to give her any kind of clue. A ball of wood about the size of a ping pong ball had been covered in cloth and then a thin chain had been attached like it was a keychain, but she had no idea what it was for.

It looked adorable enough, but Beatrice heard something like grinding teeth. Surprisingly it came from above. She glanced up and saw the small light of a Fairy floating near the ceiling.

(Huh? Is the Fairy jealous because she was trying to repay him by making furniture and tools for him?)

Boo Boo was entirely oblivious to that slight tension.

And then a new visitor arrived.

“Boo Boo.”

Fairy Queen Sutriona poked her head in. Her voice sounded somehow weak, like she had a small fish bone caught in her throat.

“Do you know where my ear pick is? I’ve looked all over and this is the only place I haven’t checked.”

“Boo? What is an ear pick?”

“Eh? Then how do you clean your ears, Boo Boo?”

Beatrice asked without thinking, but he only tilted his head. It was true wild dogs and cats went their whole lives without cleaning out their ears and Iberian Orcs might be the same, but it was shocking to the Holy Swordswoman.

Meanwhile, Sutriona walked in and searched the house without asking permission.

“I came here to beg for dinner last night…and then I filled up on bat stewed in Milk Coconut. Then I just lay down and… Right, I slept here for a while, so…there it is! My ear pick!!”

“Ahhn?”

Beatrice was a little irritated by some of what she heard, but Sutriona was not even looking her way. She either really liked the ear pick or her ears were bothering her because she immediately stuck the end in her ear while humming.

And Boo Boo cried out when he saw it.

“Squeal!?”

“Wh-what’s all the noise for? Don’t scare me like that.”

“Sutriona, are you tightening a screw in your head!?”

“No, you moron!! Does it look like I have a screw loose!?”

The silver-haired girl shouted back, but Beatrice saw this as her chance and started thinking. Or rather, she wanted to clean out Boo Boo’s ears.

So…

“I-I’m scared! Something’s going in my head!!”

“It’s okay, Boo Boo. Now don’t move.”

“I’m scared!!”

Boo Boo had used his incredible strength to beat down a dragon measuring more than 1000 meters, but a single ear pick caused him to squeeze his eyes shut and tense up his shoulders and his neck. It was an adorable sight.

Their great height difference prevented him from resting in her lap like they were lovers, so Boo Boo was sitting down while Beatrice stretched up on her tiptoes to peer into his ear and use the ear pick she had borrowed from Sutriona.

She could see inside easily enough thanks to the Magic flame (on her ahoge) she used as a light, but Boo Boo’s ears were very different from a human’s.

In fact…

“Oh, wow. It just keeps coming out! Ah ha ha!! Boo Boo, you’re amazing! I think I found the mother lode!!”

“B-boo!?”

Beatrice sounded as excited as someone pulling off an impressive chain in a puzzle game. She had only found filth and it may have been nothing to celebrate, but it was like getting a bunch of filth from behind a dresser or window frame with some famous cleaning spokesman’s gimmicky tool. Logic was irrelevant here. It was more about the sensory joy and achievement.

But…

“Huh?”

“Beatrice, don’t sound so confused while doing something so important! Tremble tremble. What’s wrong with my head? You might have tightened the screw too much and I’ll explode!!”

She of course could not do anything like that with a mere ear pick.

“The ear pick can’t reach all the way inside…”

“Well, it is meant for me,” pointed out Sutriona.

“Oh, honestly! I want to get deeper! I can see the mother lode in there, but I can’t reach it!!”

She struggled some more, but it was no use.

The Holy Swordswoman pulled the ear pick from Boo Boo’s ear and spun it around in her hand.

“I think I need one made specifically for you… I hope there’s a Mixing expert willing to make one in the inn town.”

Part 4[edit]

“I can’t do that.”

The gla.s.ses cow known as White Witch Filinion was entirely useless.

They were in a bar/inn in the inn town. With a dead look in her eyes, Beatrice drew an X through the name Filinion on her frames drawn with fire illusion Magic, so Filinion shook her hands back and forth and gave the other girl a stiff smile.

“I mean, it’s a category error. My specialty is recovery potions. Mixing doesn’t let you make just anything, you know? There are all sorts of detailed categories.”

“But an ear pick is…”

“Not a form of medicine. Anyone could set up shop at a rate of 3000 yen for 30 minutes.”

That sounded pretty sketchy, but that was not the point that Beatrice wanted to argue.

“That means I’ll have to find someone else to Mix for me. Um…”

“You need the construction type. You want someone who works with wood instead of metal, who provides logistical support in the inn town instead of directly exploring the Labyrinth, and who earns Experience Points by selling consumable goods. …A Craftsman would probably be your best bet.”

As they discussed that, a familiar face quite roughly plopped down in an empty seat at their table.

It was Fighter Priest Armelina.

“Hey there, you two! I’m exhausted after a long day at work, so buy me something cold to drink.”

“h.e.l.l no. If you’re back from the Labyrinth, you’ve got to have a ton of gears.”

“I know you know I just stuffed everything in my bag after defeating the Gimmicks and Traps. Checking through it all and dividing it out comes later.”

The gears were used as currency in the inn town because they were filled with plenty of Experience Points. And it was true that rummaging through your bag after trudging back into town was like asking robbers to surround you.

“I know I picked up a ton of stuff, so I’ll pay you back later. Oh, I know… I get a discount here, but I’ll pay you back full price. That way you actually make some money. Anyway, just give me something to driiiink.”

“A discount?”

“Oh, you don’t know, Beatrice?” nonchalantly replied Filinion.

The White Witch and Fighter Priest both reached into their pocket and pulled out something like a keychain they held between their fingers.

It was a small ball with a thin chain attached.

“It’s called a Circle.”

“That’s a pretty straightforward name.”

Beatrice placed a red line between some of the frames since Boo Boo had had one too, but then Filinion opened her mouth again.

“But, but. With one of these, a lot of the shops will give you discount or even serve you from a secret menu. And they’re starting to be a necessity when performing straw millionaire style Trades. After all, the trick is to buy low and sell high.”

Beatrice’s head was still filled with “???” over what the Circles even were, but then Filinion said something else.

“Oh, come to think of it, you might be able to use her shop, Beatrice.”

“Her?”

Yes, hadn’t Boo Boo mentioned it? He had run across someone near the forest vegetable stand. And most everything in his leaf house was something she had brought to the vegetable stand.

“The Nun who prepared our swimsuits before. You might be able to ask her to make a special order ear pick.”

Part 5[edit]

How were the mysterious Circle keychains and the Nun connected?

That question would be answered once Beatrice actually visited her.

After following a map she displayed in the air using fire illusion Magic, she arrived at the Gold Vein District which was known as an entertainment district. The inn town’s different districts could look very different and this one showed just how much excess fat humans carried around.

There was a large casino, an outdoor theatre, and a round battle arena. There was also a public bath that used hot spring water brought in from the northern mountains. The many forms flying by overhead were from a Griffon race that used giant balloons chained to the ground instead of corner posts. As was often the case around gambling establishments, there were also plenty of bars and dance halls. And no matter how well they were trained, Griffons were still animals, so one had to be careful to avoid any extra-large Griffon droppings that might fall from the sky.

The multiple rings that looked like crop circles on a distant hill must have been for a game of ultra-large darts. Metal beams were launched with Magic to see who could get theirs closest to the center.

The s.p.a.ces too small for a building had been made into herb gardens. The plants looked much less healthy than those in Boo Boo’s garden, so this may have been the results of the humans’ cultivation research that Filinion had mentioned. And even those filler gardens were clearly meant to make some money.

This part of the city was entirely honest to its desires.

Countless gears changed hands along with the Experience Points contained within, so this was another way to learn Magic and obtain Pieces. But forgetting about exploring the Labyrinth and specializing in this seemed somehow wrong. It was like the ostrich that had forgotten how to fly.

“Huh? I just saw you, Beatrice.”

“What are you doing here, Armelina? I thought you were exhausted after getting back from the Labyrinth.”

The Holy Swordswoman sounded annoyed, but the Fighter Priest laughed shamelessly (despite being a priest).

“Heh heh. That’s exactly why I’m here. I worked up a sweat defeating those Gimmicks and earning these gears, so I wanted to invest them in a sure thing: baccarat, poker, c.r.a.ps, and roulette. Don’t you underestimate Armelina, Queen of the Table Games.”

She would be a laughing stock if she was broke and simply calling herself that, but Armelina had actually won so much that a few casinos had banned her from ever returning. She may have learned to lose every once in a while so the owners could keep some pride. It was starting to sound like a joke that her Job was of the priest variety.

“More importantly, if you’re here in the Gold Vein District, should I a.s.sume the battle arena’s Cheating Queen Beatrice is making her glorious return to the death matches? If so, I’m betting everything I’ve got on you! I can’t lose!!”

“G.o.d, no. What a pain. And you and I both know they want to see me lose so badly they’d set me up against something utterly ridiculous! Besides, I only ever fought there because I was p.i.s.sed that they tried to capture Boo Boo for some kind of special event.”

The battle arena had begun as an experiment ground to see if destroyed Gimmicks could be brought up out of the Labyrinth, rebuilt, and reactivated as human p.a.w.ns. That had never worked, so it was a sh.e.l.l of its former self.

“Chehh. They apparently have some new queen, but it’s so boring now that you don’t fight there. I think she’s an Ice Waterfall Princess. I bet she’s just itching to take you on, Beatrice.”

“Don’t joke about that. I get the feeling someone like that is going to attack me in the street one of these days.”

“Call me when it happens. I’ll start taking people’s bets on the spot.”

Beatrice was rapidly swallowed up by the atmosphere of the place.

It was overripe and decadent.

“Is Filinion away?”

“Don’t joke. She’s the Griffon racing expert, remember? She uses her obsession with guidebooks to determine the pedigree, muscular strength, stamina, temperament, and condition of all the Griffons lined up there. If she checks their fur, eye color, and scent, she can apparently tell you what they’ve been eating with perfect accuracy. When she joins forces with someone good at predicting the weather, she has almost all the data and is unbeatable.”

Beatrice sighed.

The Griffon racing was also the result of some research into taming Grandnir’s Nonhumans and animals for use in exploring the Labyrinth. In the end, it turned out it was too costly and dangerous for anyone but the rare summoning Jobs. All that remained was the right to use some for racing.

“Don’t be so grumpy. There’s nothing wrong with doing this stuff to take a break while also earning some Experience Points. …And it’s hard for me to enjoy this stuff in reality due to my job, so of course I’m gonna go all out here in Grandnir.”

Armelina waved goodbye and left. Beatrice felt the exhaustion pressing down on her as she watched the other girl leave. The Gold Vein District was just that kind of place. Walking around and breathing the air was enough to drag people’s desires out to the surface.

And that may have been why the lone church in that district of pleasure and gambling looked as adorable as a flower growing through a crack in the asphalt.

However, there was no obvious cross on the roof.

And at the door, a white Nun held a basket made of woven plants as she pa.s.sed something out to pa.s.sersby with a smile.

“You are not alone. We all form one big circle.”

“Oh, it’s the Nun!”

“Here you go. I pray we can bring our hearts together into a circle.”

“I never thought something like this would help save me money. I’ve been stuck in a losing streak, so I’m really thankful.”

The teachings seemed to be different too.

The Nun must have noticed the puzzled Holy Swordswoman because she silently approached with oddly strange movements. She wore a white habit that hid as much skin as possible, but her body’s veritable storm of curves was still clearly visible through it. It took all the mental fort.i.tude Beatrice had to focus on the fact that she was above average herself, even if only by a few millimeters.

“These are the Circles. Would you like one?”

“Sure.”

The Holy Swordswoman did not entirely understand, but she still took one of the keychain-like Circles.

It seemed to be the Nun’s symbol, perhaps used to invite people to her church. Beatrice finally managed to fill in the Circle entry that was connected to Boo Boo, Filinion, and Armelina.

“I heard you were the one that made our swimsuits before.”

“Oh, do you need another one?”

“No, um, I don’t need a swimsuit, but I would like to ask for something else. It’s about an ear pick.”

“I will hear you out. Please come inside to talk.”

They stepped inside the church’s door.

They moved from a street of pleasure and gambling to the tranquil atmosphere of a church.

It seemed to be modeled after a church’s chapel, but there were no religious symbols here either. For example, the windows were done in the colorful stained gla.s.s style, but they did not depict a scene from any kind of story or tradition. They only looked like pieces of colorful gla.s.s.

(A church, huh?)

Beatrice had no fixed religious beliefs, so her mind jumped to one of life’s biggest events.

(A wedding. If they have a chapel here in Grandnir…wow, it’s possible I might even be able to wear a wedding dress…)

A maiden-like fantasy briefly entered her mind, but the questions soon followed.

(Hm? With Boo Boo? How would someone as big as him wear a white suit? Oh, no. That one extra piece of information is causing my own ideal vision to crumble away…!!)

“So what was it you wanted to discuss? I am willing to do anything if it will make money for an emergency relief fund. Do you need something Mixed, or are you here to heal your illness?”

“Hm?”

Beatrice frowned at that second option, so the Nun clasped her hands in front of her chest.

“I do not know what things are like ‘over there’, but it seems that healing an illness inside Grandnir will also make you healthy ‘over there’. Objects and life forms cannot move back and forth, but anything related to the body’s health seems to remain.”

“Oh, right,” said Beatrice.

That was why that Guild in the forest had gone out of their way to train in Grandnir and why returning through the Gate while badly injured would only end in tragedy. It was always a good idea to heal oneself with Magic before returning.

“So is that why you’re here today?”

“N-no! Cough, cough… What I need is pretty simple. Can you make me an ear pick about this big? It might be large, but I would appreciate it if you made it very carefully.”

Beatrice used both hands to indicate the size of a cutla.s.s worn at a Pirate’s hip. That order would normally receive a quizzical look in response, but the white Nun said nothing, clasped her hands in front of her (large) chest, and smiled.

“That I can prepare for you right away. From what I’ve heard, people prefer those to be very simple without anything like slip resistance.”

“Um?”

“I can introduce you to an excellent craftsman. Hee hee. I originally only wanted to properly Appraise the Treasures from the Labyrinth and the products of Mixing in order to act as an intermediary between those who get into fights over those gears you use as currency.”

“No, um…”

“And there is a large difference between just selling the materials and selling a product created by Mixing a combination of those materials. I try to turn them into as much money as I can like that. The noncombat Jobs have to earn Experience Points without leaving the inn town, so when they were having trouble, they seemed to think I was a Nun and I suppose I took advantage of the warm welcome they gave me.”

“Not that.”

The people of the inn town did not view Iberian Orcs in a positive light. She did not want to have to answer too many questions here, but she still found her voice rising in a quizzical tone.

Bu the Nun did not seem to mind.

She reached for the hood covering her hair.

“I pray we can bring our hearts together into a circle…”

After reciting that phrase, she removed the hood to reveal the answer.

The Nun had wavy shoulder-length silver hair. And on both sides behind her ears, she had curled goat horns.

“I am also a Nonhuman. I am a Succubus. Since I look like this, I was accepted into the inn town, but I try to understand how it feels for those who are not.”

Beatrice was more than a little surprised.

The inn town was human territory. She had known Sutriona of the Break News used her lovely appearance to play around here, but it was a shock to find another Nonhuman blending in so perfectly.

In fact, she did not look like a Succubus at all.

She seemed far too pure to seduce a man, drag him into bed, and consume his life energy in his dreams.

Of course, that name had only been given to the Grandnir residents by the humans from earth, so that name may have been a source of bias on the level of defamation.

(I mean, she looks holier than that prayer group in the forest or a certain gambler I could mention.)

The nun who had called herself a Succubus smiled.

“So I will not ask too much about your situation. I know without having to ask that you are building a bridge between humans and Nonhumans. And in that case, I can see no reason not to help. I showed you my horns because I knew a bridge-builder like you would not treat me poorly.”

“Why…?” Beatrice gulped. “Why are you doing this?”

The human life was convenient, but it was not necessarily comfortable to all Nonhumans. Even if she wanted to enjoy the human life, gathering attention with this church and her preaching would be risky. And making proper Appraisals in order to stop conflicts could easily earn her grudges from the people she ended up stopping. If she just wanted to take advantage of the various services available, it would be more efficient and safer to blend into the crowd like Sutriona did.

But the Succubus nun was still smiling.

And as she did, a slight shadow fell over her face.

“That is the wrong question to ask.”

“?”

“I came to the inn town because I met someone. Because I wanted to be near him and walk by his side. That is why I am not hiding from human eyes. It was not the human life I wanted; it was a human.”

It all started to make sense. The Succubus also had someone in a relations.h.i.+p much like Beatrice and Boo Boo’s. Beatrice’s intuition told her as much.

But that intuition was too naïve.

“However, the gentleman who led me to love humans is now sleeping below the cold dirt.”

Beatrice could find nothing to say.

Humans came to Grandnir to explore the Labyrinth. That was risky and death was always a possibility, but knowing that and actually seeing it were two different things.

“Is that why you started a church?”

“Humans can freely move between the two worlds, but you cannot bring just anything back. Only your living body and the s.h.i.+ning Weapon that contains your knowledge and data. …So of course, a certain problem arises.”

“The bodies of those who die in Grandnir.”

No matter how it happened, the people who died here could not return to earth. Their bodies could only be buried in Grandnir. An adolescent girl like Beatrice could not really picture a world after her death, but it was a possibility every day she was involved in exploring the Labyrinth.

“So I began to wonder if I could do anything to fulfill their hearts and help them rest in peace. And I ultimately decided it would be best to copy what you humans do as you are several steps ahead of us.” The silver-haired Succubus smiled calmly. “I do not know if this is the right thing to do. It might be entirely misguided and only provide me with self-satisfaction. But I simply had to find something I could do for those who breathed their last in this land.”

“You’re not doing anything wrong,” naturally responded Beatrice. “You don’t need to save up a ton of money. Holding a parade of a funeral and building a pure gold altar isn’t going to make the dead smile. It’s not about how much you spend. Your intentions mean so much more when it comes to saving them.”

“Thank you very much.”

The Nun in a white habit looked surprised at first, but then she smiled.

And a moment later, a high-pitched sound rang out.

Some kind of external force had smashed the stained gla.s.s window.

“!?”

Beatrice immediately reached for the s.h.i.+ning Weapon rapier at her hip and used a wall formed from an explosive blast to protect the Succubus from the colorful shards of gla.s.s.

A fist-sized stone rolled across the floor.

That alone was nearly enough for Beatrice’s head to boil over.

The tranquility had been broken.

The poisonous air of pleasure and gambling seemed to invade the church from beyond the broken gla.s.s.

“Who did that!?”

She gave into her anger by shouting, running over, and tackling open the church door.

The scene outside was entirely peaceful.

Someone looked back and forth between the number burnt into a wooden ticket and the Griffons flying through the sky. Someone with a red face visited yet another bar to either celebrate a victory or grieve a loss. Someone carried a bag stuffed full of gears and started listening to some sketchy investment talk on the roadside. None of them had thrown the stone. All of the pa.s.sersby were acting normally and none of them even looked Beatrice’s way.

But that was the weird part.

(What is this? Everyone is too indifferent.)

The sound of shattering gla.s.s would linger in people’s ears. Anyone who did not know what was happening would come to a stop and turn toward the source of the sound. And unlike Beatrice and the Succubus inside, the people outside had to have seen the person who threw the stone. She was not going to ask them to capture whoever it was, but there was definitely something wrong with showing no reaction whatsoever. It should have at least been clear that something had happened.

So what was this?

(It isn’t that they don’t know. They know, but they’re pretending they didn’t see it. Are they treating this church like it doesn’t exist?)

She thought she saw something flas.h.i.+ng in the crowd.

It was an ugly sparkle like from a nouveau riche old man’s golden tooth.

She sensed a sticky sort of malice that was different from jeering or angry yelling.

It was a stone this time, but what if the people would react the same under different circ.u.mstances? What if a group of men wielding blades and s.h.i.+ning Weapons arrived at the church’s front entrance? And what if Beatrice was not there when it happened? How would these people respond to the sounds of screams and destruction coming from the building?

“Oh, dear.”

Finally and far too late, the Succubus appeared behind Beatrice with her hood back on.

“This kind of thing has been happening a lot lately. Well, I can have gla.s.s prepared right away with Mixing, so I’m just glad no one out front was harmed.”

Part 6[edit]

“Boo…”

In the mountain, a leaf house became the epicenter of a great tremor.

“Bgghh!! Bbhhh! Mumble, mumble…then who in the mansion is really the killer…bhhh!!”

After killing some large prey, Boo Boo did not have to worry about food for a few days. When that happened, he tended to nap all day long. The wild animals were too afraid to approach the center of the blast, but there was one exception: Meridiana, the palm-sized Fairy who lived in his house.

“Hm, hm, hm, hmm.”

She was on the roof of the triangular house that resembled a giant tent. The leaf roof had a certain level of elasticity, so she had embedded half a broken Bucket Ostrich Egg sh.e.l.l in it, filled that with water warmed to the perfect temperature, and then mixed in some of a Milk Coconut’s sweet juice that was good for the skin.

What did this create?

A bath of course.

“Ahhh, you just can’t beat an open-air bath…”

Meridiana rested her elbows on the edge of the sh.e.l.l and soaked in the white water while lying nearly face down.

Milk Coconut and Mola.s.ses Plant were known to be good for the skin, so even the humans used them. She did not know how things worked on the world they called Earth, but polis.h.i.+ng their skin here apparently affected them back there too.

Fairies were at the bottom of the food chain, so they normally would be s.n.a.t.c.hed away by a bird of prey if they defenselessly exposed their skin in such an open area. She was being somewhat cautious by lying face down and thus keeping her wings dry and able to read the air currents, but how useful would that really be if she was attacked? This luxury was entirely thanks to the ultimate safety provided by Boo Boo’s loud snoring.

(But curse that Nun for winning his heart with gifts! I’m the one that’s supposed to be repaying him by secretly making furniture and tools for him. No, stop this, stop this. I need to relax in the bath and think about what I can do for Boo Boo. Grind, grind, grind.)

“Meridiana.”

Just as she started grinding her teeth, someone spoke to her in her Fairy safe zone.

“I see you are enjoying yourself as much as you can, Meridiana. I’m jealous in a way.”

“Oh, Lady Morgan.”

Another small Fairy fluttered down. Morgan’s lime green hair was gathered behind her head, she wore orange clothing, and she had large cicada-like wings. She was the elder off the Fairy village and she rarely appeared to people since she was more cautious than Meridiana, so the human fortunetellers had erroneously concluded that simply seeing her was a harbinger of great fortune or misfortune.

“It has taken me far too long to greet Sir Boo Boo for saving you and Fairies as a whole. I intended to thank him, but it does not look like that will be happening.”

“He’ll get up in a flash when danger is approaching, but there’s no waking him unless he senses something that qualifies as a threat for someone as powerful as him.”

“I’m not sure if that qualifies as sharp or dull. Sigh.” Morgan skillfully hovered in the sky and shook her head. “I could never disturb his sleep for our convenience. I suppose I will simply leave my thanks for today and wait to greet him at a later date.”

“Oh, did you bring something for him? Is it food?”

Meridiana could not just let the village elder go on her own, so she left the large egg bath, dried off her body, donned her pink dress, and guided the guest to the house’s owner below.

Boo Boo lay face up in the middle of the leaf house.

Iberian Orc bodies were st.u.r.dy, so he apparently did not need a bed or even a blanket.

“Hm, so this is the great hero who drove back the wicked dragon and freed of from the chains of that horrific custom.”

“B-Boo Boo might look frightening, but he’s really nice! Um, it might be super hard to tell from your first impression though!!”

“I was thinking nothing of the sort. And you might be trying to help, but that would actually hurt him. Be more careful.”

Morgan scolded the other Fairy and fluttered around.

She landed on the forehead of the giant porcine face.

The Fairy elder kneeled down, bowed her head, and spoke in a deep and heavy voice.

“It took me far too long to greet you. My name is Morgan. My power is lacking, but I am the elder who leads the Fairies in Lady Sutriona’s absence. So I must thank you on everyone’s behalf. And I must provide a physical sign of our thanks. Just as you stood up to a literal mountain of a dragon for us, we will offer you endless blessings.”

“Ah!!”

Meridiana covered her mouth with a hand and cried out.

As she kneeled, Morgan brought her lips down toward Boo Boo’s colossal forehead.

“Ahh! Ahh!! Ahhhhh!!!!”

“Be quiet, Meridiana. I am trying to perform a sacred ritual.”

“But, um, uh, with the way things are and with his relations.h.i.+p with Beatrice, I’m still trying to figure out what kind of distance to keep between us, so how can you kiss him so easily!!???”

“How? The most we Fairies can do is provide labor or offer our blessings.”

Meridiana gave another bizarre cry and covered her face with both hands. Her thoughts had immediately gone in the labor direction when it came to repaying him, so she may have been a true meathead despite her slender appearance.

“Th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-then I’ll give Boo Boo a Fairy’s blessing too!!”

“Stop. I just now did so on behalf of all Fairies. If a lower Fairy like you does so now, the blessings could easily conflict. Anything else would be meaningless.”

“Vwaaahhh!!”

There was nothing she could do, but Meridiana could not stop yelling. And yet Boo Boo continued snoring and showed no sign of waking.

Morgan did not seem bothered either since the point of her argument was somewhat different from Meridiana’s.

“If you think of anything we can do for Sir Boo Boo, please let me know. Although Lady Sutriona might know more about the human settlement.”

“Vwahh, vwahhh!! …Vwah?”

“There have apparently been some ominous actions taken by the human Guild known as the Religious Society. If he had no interest in the humans, he could possibly avoid getting dragged into this mess…but getting involved in everything seems to be what Sir Boo Boo does. It couldn’t hurt for you to hear this.”

“Um, the Religious Society, you say?”

“To be honest, I do not know much about human mythology, but this is exactly what it sounds like: a group gathered for religious reasons. They tend to take exclusionary actions based in elitism and it would be difficult to say they are very kind in their treatment of Nonhumans like us. They say all people are equal, but they turn around and say that anyone who does not understand them does not qualify as a person. To sum up: be careful.”

Part 7[edit]

The change was like seeing a synthetic detergent muddying a stream that had previously been so refres.h.i.+ngly clear that the fish could be seen swimming through it.

A few days had pa.s.sed since then.

The atmosphere had clearly changed in the inn town that functioned as the humans’ base of activity.

“Beatrice, Beatrice!”

Someone called out to the Holy Swordswoman who was fiercely haggling at an open-air shop where shopkeeper and customer trusted each other equally little.

The hushed voice came from White Witch Filinion.

Unable to get a satisfactory result, Beatrice left the already narrow road and entered an alley that was little more than a gap between buildings.

Fighter Priest Armelina also waited there.

“Why are both of you here?”

“To warn you, obviously. You’re the only one still walking around the inn town showing off their Circle so blatantly. You need to be careful.”

“?”

She was the only one? Hadn’t those two been the ones showing off their Circles just the other day? Beatrice looked puzzled, so Filinion and Armelina exchanged a glance before hesitantly reaching into their pockets.

They pulled out identical Circles.

“Showing it off so blatantly is the problem.”

“Yes, a fairly radical Guild is apparently growing more active. As a group or an individual, I honestly want nothing to do with the Religious Society.”

“You’re kidding, right? The Religious Societ-…!?”

The Holy Swordswoman started to yell, so the other two girls quickly covered her mouth.

The Religious Society.

To some extent, every mythology and religion that humans believed in mentioned how humans were to view the world. Some said the world had been created and some said mankind had been given the world. The scope of what it mentioned varied greatly. It could be as small as a village or island, it could be a city or nation, and it could even be the entire planet or the entire universe.

But a certain problem had arisen.

Not one religious text or scripture mentioned the alternate world of Grandnir.

If nothing was written about it, what were they to do with it?

Especially when the people who visited Grandnir had evolved into beings who could wield the instant paranormal power of Magic…or to put it another way, miracles.

“The field of religion has been thrown into chaos,” said Fighter Priest Armelina as she gently removed her hand from Beatrice’s mouth. “Grandnir is honestly a thorn in their side, so they would really prefer it if we could erase the fact that it had ever been discovered. But mankind can no longer give up Grandnir after the technological revolutions brought about by the Pieces. It would be like abolis.h.i.+ng the internet and cellphones and being left behind by the rest of the world. They know they will only decline if they don’t accept these new advancements, but they’re all really on edge about how to deal with it all. And the Religious Society has come to power within all that. They’re the real deal. They might be even worse than Elkiad from before.”

“We don’t know who the Religious Society is.” White Witch Filinion shrugged and sighed. “Maybe they’re a secret division of the world’s largest monotheistic religion and maybe they’re a collection of people from various religions who hate the very existence of Grandnir. After all, we can’t rely on what they look like here. Even if they performed a public ma.s.sacre in the inn town, they would escape any kind of punishment once they returned to earth.”

“In Grandnir, our equipment adjusts even our facial features. If they wore different equipment each time they came here, they would have a new face each time. Of course, that normally doesn’t happen because everyone has their own favorite Parameters.”

“…”

“Anyway, be on the lookout for gold rings without any kind of symbol on them. They have no uniform and perfectly blend into their surroundings, but it’s been discovered that they do wear a pure gold ring on their left hand’s ring finger. They apparently engrave their G.o.d’s name in it, melt it, and then rework it into a different form to marry their faith in a way no one will recognize.”

“I see.”

It finally clicked for Beatrice.

She had seen that a few times after something had seemed a little odd. She had seen the glitter of an actual pure gold ring and not just some Magic shaped like that. An experiment from a much older era had proven that materials could not be transported between earth and the other world, so these people must have gone out of their way to make a ring in Grandnir and leave it in a safe place when they returned to earth.

“But even if the ring is on their left hand’s ring finger, they aren’t necessarily from the West. That tradition has spread all around the world and another culture could always be adopting it for camouflage. From our thick armor to our underwear, all of our equipment is just Magic shaped liked that, right? So if you see someone wearing actual physical gold, you should be suspicious.”

Beatrice once more looked down at her keychain-like Circle.

She once more judged the value placed inside it, even if its maker had not done so intentionally.

“Filinion, Armelina. …How much do you know about that Nun?”

“You mean that she’s actually a Nonhuman and a Succubus? She might think she’s hiding it, but everyone knows. It’s an open secret.”

“Nonhumans can’t use Magic. For the Mixing of the swimsuits and whatever else, she apparently asks a human she knows to do it. But anyway…”

Armelina trailed off when they heard a commotion on the street.

They peeked out from the alley and saw some men and women stomping around and carrying placards made from crude wooden panels. Those signs said “say no to monsters” and “protect the human inn town”.

(They sure let themselves be influenced easily…)

Beatrice sighed and started speaking again.

“If ‘everyone’ knows, then there’s obviously a chance the Religious Society knows.”

What would they think of that?

The various religions born on earth were simply incompatible with another world like Grandnir. The issues surrounding interpretations of their scriptures were throwing them into chaos, so what would they think when they learned that a new religion was being born here?

That religion was meant to provide peaceful rest to those who died in another world and could not return. It was an innocent thing that copied what the humans did and used a simple circle as a symbol.

But none of that mattered.

Very little could be brought back between the two worlds. Knowledge and techniques – or more simply, memories and information – were the only small blessings there. And that included religion and doctrine. Plus, hadn’t Filinion pointed out that people could look completely different on earth and in Grandnir? And that no matter what someone did in Grandnir, it could not be traced back to them once they returned to earth?

That meant one thing:

“No one can know how far a religious born in Grandnir would spread.”

“But Grandnir is so small we could walk completely around it in 3 days. People of every race and nationality gather here using the Gates located around the world.”

“In the past, it was known as spy heaven where no one could monitor you, but this feels like a further derivation of that. If some kind of explosive fad begins here in Grandnir, it would be brought back to every part of the world in the blink of an eye. The spread of such things is usually estimated using the starting point, so those estimates would be useless.”

That Succubus may not have intended to start an invasion.

But what she had done was enough for the religions having enough trouble already. Even if they closed all of the Gates and pretended Grandnir had never existed, they could not prevent the information brought back from spreading as a new religion called the Church of the Circle.

What if that fear was spreading?

What if the majority started agreeing that risk should be removed as soon as possible?

“Dammit…”

Beatrice did not have time to draw out frames and red lines with her fire illusion Magic.

She remembered the stone thrown though the church window. She remembered the giant blind spot created in a public area when everyone feigned indifference. If that kind of thing was moving on the level of a Guild like the Religious Society, then how much violence would a.s.sault that Succubus in broad daylight while she was trapped in that cage of indifference?

She could not return the man she had once lived with to his original world. She could not even return a hair from his head.

So she had at least wanted to give him a peaceful and undisturbed rest here in Grandnir’s soil.

That was all she had wanted to do.

“Dammit!!”

“Um, hey, Beatrice? Didn’t we just say not to get involved in all this!?”

“I ordered an ear pick for Boo Boo from her. I’m not letting anything happen to her before I get it!”

“Okay, fine, you softhearted fool! So we just have to stick our heads into this too, do we!?”

All three of them started running.

Beatrice had to wonder which of them was really the softhearted fool, but she was not stupid enough to forget her appreciation of having someone to support her.

Even if every district was very different, it was still just a human city built alongside those exploring the Labyrinth. It was only so large. A short run was all it took to reach the Gold Vein District and all its pleasure and gambling.

Beatrice called up a detailed map of the district using fire illusion Magic and Armelina asked the most fundamental question.

“But how are we going to get her to safety? As we already mentioned, Grandnir is only an island we can walk around in 3 days. If the Religious Society hunts her down with pure numbers, there’s no escape. And since that Nun is a Nonhuman, we can’t invite her to earth through a Gate.”

“But since she was born and raised in Grandnir, she doesn’t have to worry about her internal clock getting screwed up. She doesn’t have to return every few days to avoid serious mental and physical effects, so time should be on her side.”

“You mean…?”

“She can hide in the vast underground expanse of the Labyrinth, or she can head out to sea in a boat loaded with as much food as it can hold, just like that Next Voyager. If she can buy herself enough time in some environment where it’s hard to hunt her down, she should be able to survi-…”

She trailed off.

A pillar of fire rose above the roofs of the buildings in the direction they were headed.

Any theoretical odds of victory were pointless if they did not arrive in time.

Even if they were only one second or one instant too late, they could not stop a tragedy that was beyond their reach.

“G.o.ddammit!!”

Part 8[edit]

It had begun a bit earlier.

It was a moonlit evening. Partway up a mountain far away from the inn town – that coincidentally happened to be opposite the slope on which Boo Boo’s house was built – marched a group wearing bluish-black dresses much like mourning clothes and with pure gold rings on their left ring fingers. They hid their faces behind thin veils and they held modern-looking bows with large stabilizers sticking out on the front. They were not actually bows because they had short close-quarters com